Arrival
The plane landed and we all disembarked. The first order of business before we could do anything was to get our passports stamped and do all of that immigration junk. Unfortunately, as there were hundreds upon hundreds of JETs entering the country at the same time at Narita, Immigration was packed. I felt bad for all of the non-JETs who were waiting for what was at least an hour in line with us. Oh, and all the JETs had JET stickers, so you knew who to feel sorry for and who it was safe to strike up a random conversation with.

After the time waiting in Immigration it was time to have loads of current JETs to lead us out of the airport to wear we were supposed to meet up outside to have on of over a dozen busses whisk us away. Somewhere in between we also picked up our bags and mailed one of our checked bags to our board of education, though in my case it was mailing a unicycle wheel.

Narita is a good two-and-a-half hour drive from our hotel in Shinjuku (the Keio Plaza Hotel), so within that time everyone else socialized and I read Harry Potter. By now I was sick of socializing and wanted to rest. It was during this bus ride where I realized that hey, we’re really in Japan. Narita Airport being the main international airport for Japan, it’s very internationalized. Everything is in multiple languages, and it more or less feels like most any other airport.

Once we actually got out of the airport is where I started to see the signs written in Japanese everywhere, including the many Kanji that I still don’t understand. For some things I kenw what to expect–for instance driving on the left and the proliferation of stuff I can’t read, but during that ride there were also many things I had never thought about. For instance, we passed by Tokyo Disneyland and I caught a glimpse of my very first bicycle parking lot. I knew that many more people rode bikes in Japan than America, but it never really occured to me until that moment to have actual bicycle parking lots full of thousands of bikes. Later on I would come across my first bicycle parking garage.

Eventually we arrived at the hotel, unloaded, and checked in, where I got my first taste of a real Japanese conference/business meeting.

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